[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I have been a frequent viewer of this forum and have got some great information skimming through posts for the past couple of months. I am seeking some help on career advice. My short term goal is gain the experience required to become a CPA.

Back-story:

Currently 26

Graduated 2011 with degrees in History and Accounting from small private Midwestern college

GPA: 3.1 (worked +20 hrs a week in manufacturing/other related jobs throughout college to pay for education, no internship, no extra circulars (always working, lame excuse I know))

(1) year experience in A/P for large public company out of college

(+2) years limited accounting experience with small family owned business in cost accounting and estimating (majority estimating) currently employed at small manufacturer

Currently reside in small Midwest town

Predicament:

Need experience to satisfy experience requirement for CPA certification; neither my previous job nor my current job will satisfy the requirement. I feel that not doing an internship hurt my chances of landing a good paying job out of college; I should not have worried so much about taking on too much debt (not necessarily relevant). My current job is a dead end job although I have been offered a managerial position but the long term earning potential leaves much to be desired.

I wanted to see others thoughts on my potential chances of landing a public accounting job. I plan on completing the exam in late April and will begin applying for public accounting positions once I find out if I passed the last section. My current employer is aware of my plans to leave and is supportive of my efforts although they have made offers to retain me. My fear is that a stigma may follow me since I am relatively old compared to desired candidates for public accounting jobs plus I don’t have any true accounting experience (my A/P job was more of data entry although I did perform monthly journal entries and compiled other accounting reports).

A friend of my girlfriend’s, who currently works at a local Big 4, stated they would be willing submit a referral for me so I am holding out hope I could land an interview that firm. Just wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation and what key factors you did to overcome it. Did you even bother submitting applications to Big 4 firms/large regional firms or focused primarily on industry accounting jobs? Should I target my job search at small local firms? Should I list my exam scores on resume? (from what I’ve read, this practice is frowned upon).

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for all the help!

PS – sorry for the wordy post

[Allergic2CPA]

@OP

I have no public accounting experience but big4 hires recent grads. The fact that you have some experience and a referral already gives you a leg up in my view. You obviously would still have to interview well.

I've seen many posts here about people getting into public older than 30 so don't concern yourself with age but with whether or not you think you could handle long grueling hours.

You also have to figure out what your long term plans are before getting into discussing where you should apply as this will help you guide your choices.

Not sure how strong of a management position you're being offered but it's very difficult to find such positions and would seriously consider it assuming you'll have direct reports.

Don't mention scores unless your winning the Elijah award.

FAR 46*, 77
AUD 70, 79
BEC 67, 82
REG 75

Texas License July 2013

Used Yaeger lectures based on Wiley textbooks

*Studied less than two weeks, forgot I had purchased NTS.

[Anonymous]

First off, don't feel bad for avoiding college debt – if it a lot of college kids were smarter like you, then a lot of adults would be in much better shape now. I graduated without debt, without internships, without noteworthy extra-curriculars (aka nothing that could be put on a resume), but with a work history throughout college (work unrelated to account), and got a public in small-firm public accounting straight away. Now, 3 years later, I've got my dream job. So, graduating without debt or with less debt is a smart thing to do and is *not* an immediate end to your career.

That being said, from my understanding, Big 4 tends to hire entry-level almost strictly out of college, and experienced hires usually require experience in either tax or auditing. So, I'd say you have 3 options:

1. Friends' referral gets you in to Big 4 – if so, awesome.

2. Get a job with a smaller accounting firm. There's lots of small firms that are better at reviewing candidates instead of reviewing checklists.

3. Become a CPA through a state that would count your work experience. KY is one such state.

I'm not sure of the CPA experience requirements in your state; there might be a 4th option to seek another job in industry that would fulfill the CPA experience requirements. In KY, as a CPA I can sign off on work experience for anyone working in accounting, regardless of whether they work for me or not. Also, the experience doesn't have to be in auditing or tax. So, if one of the people who works under me wanted to become a CPA, I could sign off on their experience…or if I kept in touch with someone who worked elsewhere, I could sign off on his/her experience, too. Part of the experience that completed my experience requirement was obtained working A/R in industry. So, there may be some options outside of getting a public accounting job.

P. S. Listing scores on your resume is a touchy subject. Given that your scores are pretty high, you might have some worth listing. You're really close to getting the Elijah Sell Watts award or whatever it's called, and if you got that, then it would be worth listing…so if you're within a couple points of it, I'd still be tempted to list the scores. I was one of those test-takers whose goal was to pass, so my scores were upper 70's and lower 80's for the most part – nothing worth listing. But, 90+ is a different story.

[Author]

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